Waga seko ni tada ni awaba koso na wa tatame koto no kayoi ni nani ka soko yue

我が背子に直に逢はばこそ名は立ため
言の通ひに何かそこゆゑ

Roma-ji: Waga seko ni tada ni awaba koso na wa tatame koto no kayoi ni nani ka soko yue
English Translation: If I met my love
face to face, then it is true
that rumors would rise;
but for words that pass between,
why should talk be spread for that?
Meaning: If I had met my beloved face to face, rumors might well rise; but we have only exchanged words, so why should there be gossip over that?
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2524

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing One's Feelings Directly"
If she had met her beloved in person, rumors might be expected, but they have only exchanged words, so why should that start talk? So a woman wonders and laments at people's gossip. The poem holds both her vexation at a reputation spreading before they have even met and her frustration at being unable to meet.
This is a poem expressing feelings directly. Fear of love becoming known and talked about is a recurring theme in Man'yoshu love poems, and this poem protests unjust rumor by distinguishing between meeting and merely exchanging messages.
The author is unknown. The anonymous poems of Book Eleven gather love poems by people whose names have not come down to us.

First line, "waga seko ni": "to my beloved." "Seko" is a woman's affectionate word for her husband or lover, showing that this is a woman's poem.
Second line, "tada ni awaba koso": "only if I met him directly." "Tada ni" means directly, without a go-between, and the particle "koso" strongly singles out the condition.
Third line, "na wa tatame": "rumors might rise." "Na" means reputation or rumor; "koso" is answered by "me," the realis of the conjectural "mu," in a kakari-musubi construction carrying a concessive sense into what follows. The poem breaks after the third line.
Fourth line, "koto no kayoi ni": "in the passing of words," contrasted with meeting in person, showing that they only exchange messages.
Fifth line, "nani ka soko yue": "why, for that reason?" "Nani ka" asks why, and with words such as "should rumors rise" left unsaid, the unfinished form deepens her bewilderment.
Source: Manyoshu
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